Nepoyo  Isauka

We the people of the NEPOYO ISAUKA of the First People of Hummingbird Island (Trinidad), Tobago, and the Orinoco, are a sovereign Arawak Kingdom Nation, and are constituted together as a Constitutional Monarchy in order that we may: Promote the common good and well-being of our people; Protect and preserve our culture and traditions including our language, arts and crafts, and archeological sites; Protect our traditional territories, water and natural resources; Promote and protect the health and welfare of our people; Encourage and promote educational opportunities for our citizens ; Foster economic development; Protect the individual rights of our people; Acquire additional resources for the benefit of the nation; Promote self-government and ensure the political integrity of our sovereign nation; Preserve, secure and exercise all the inherent sovereign rights and powers of an Indigenous Nation.

The Isau

The Isau is the title given to the First Prince of the Nepoyo’s Turtle Clan and Grand Chief of the Orinoco Empire. The current Isau is Prince Aaron of the Turtle Clan (17th Isau of his line). Since the 1700’s the Isauka has been under a predominantly catholic influence, although many of the traditional cultural activities are still observed within ceremony. 

The Arawak Turtle Clan

The Arawak Turtle Clan is the royal house that governs the Nepoyo Isauka and is headed by the First Prince. The Turtle Clan is made up of the descendants of the Carapana Imperial family of the Ancient Orinoco Empire that stretched from the upper parts of South America, through the Caribbean Islands, and up in to the South Eastern United Stated. The turtle clan is believed to have managed much of the trade that occurred between many of the Arawakan Island Nations. Although the Nepoyo are unique to Trinidad and Tobago, the Turtle Clan can be found all throughout the Arawakan world.

As the house that make up the royalty of the Nepoyo Isauka clan members are also known as the Nitayno Council, or Council of Princes, and its members are mostly addressed as Princes. Aside from being a member of the Turtle Clan family, today members can be initiated in to the Clan for service in the preservation of sea turtles, the rain forests, and service to the Isauka. Initiates are not regarded as Princes, but clan brothers or sisters. 

One of the original names of the Island of Trinidad was Cariri Cay, or Hummingbird Island. The Nepoyo territories were known as Ierie. Cariri Cay is considered a sacred Island as it is a traditional belief that the ancestors come back to us as hummingbirds. To trap or kill a hummingbird is one of the greatest crimes of the Nepoyo Isauka. In the south of Trinidad in a place called La Brea is a pitch lake. The legend is that there was an Igniri Chief that ordered his people to trap a hummingbird, so that he could hold it for ransom to the Nepoyo. The legend says that the earth then bubbled up and swallowed he and his warriors, creating the Pitch Lake at La Brea.